Posts Tagged ‘geology’

Thursday, August 7th, 2014 by Mono Lake Committee StaffcloseAuthor: Mono Lake Committee StaffName: Mono Lake Committee StaffTitle: Mono Lake Committee StaffAbout: The Mono Lake Committee is a 16,000 member non-profit citizens' group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.See All Posts by Mono Lake Committee (507)Contact Mono Lake Committee

This post was written by Erica Stephens, 2014 Mono Lake Intern.

Making the long journey up Highway 395 north to the Mono Basin and Eastern Sierra was always the highlight of my summers growing up. Originally from Southern California, I am used to palm trees, sirens whizzing by, crowds, malls, and a Starbucks on every corner. Everyone always seems to be on the move and everywhere you go, places are bustling with business. I come from this sort of lifestyle and consider myself to be a true California beach bum from the Long Beach area.

Erica leading a program for visitors along the Fossil Discovery Trail in Dinosaur National Monument in 2010. Photo courtesy of Erica Stephens.

Yet the city life was not all I was accustomed to since I was fortunate enough to have had an amazing outdoor education experience at Camp Hi-Hill during the fifth grade. (more…)

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 by Mono Lake Committee StaffcloseAuthor: Mono Lake Committee StaffName: Mono Lake Committee StaffTitle: Mono Lake Committee StaffAbout: The Mono Lake Committee is a 16,000 member non-profit citizens' group dedicated to protecting and restoring the Mono Basin ecosystem, educating the public about Mono Lake and the impacts on the environment of excessive water use, and promoting cooperative solutions that protect Mono Lake and meet real water needs without transferring environmental problems to other areas.See All Posts by Mono Lake Committee (507)Contact Mono Lake Committee

This post was written by Erik Lyon, 2013 Project Specialist.

Turn off Highway 395 a few miles north of Mono Lake, and drive a few minutes down a dusty dirt road. You’ll pass a small pond on your left, opaque with mud. You probably wouldn’t notice it. That is, unless you are a geologist.

The unobtrusive mud pond, where deer have crept to the water’s edge to drink. Photo by Erik Lyon.

“Everything going on at Mono Lake is going on in this pond,” says Guleed Ali, a geology graduate student from Columbia University. He shows a handful of coworkers and me winding channels where sediment was eroded, and the sprawling delta where it was deposited. At Mono Lake, the Rush and Lee Vining creek deltas have been forming and changing for millennia, and (more…)